Metropolitan water companies. Returns of the accounts of the metropolitan water companies for the year ending 31 December 1887 (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, no. 193, of session (2) 1880, and Parliamentary Paper, no. 129, of session 1882); and, of the area in square miles and portions thereof supplied by each company, together with an estimate of the daily waste in gallons, waste being understood to mean that portion of the water supply which is not consumed by domestic requirements, nor trade purposes, street watering, gardens, &c., but which arises from defective mains or service pipes, inefficient plumbing, &c [electronic resource].